My Spring Gnome

I absolutely LOVE my Spring Gnome! I knew what I wanted him to look like, but while I was crafting, I wasn’t sure it was working out! But I am happily surprised!

Supplies I Used for my Spring Gnome

Styrofoam cone: Dollar Tree is my source!
Rope Braid: once again Dollar Tree, and you’ll find then close to the styrofoam cone.
Fabric: of your choice, I found this cute bumble bee skirt at Dollar Tree
Hot Glue gun and glue
Scissors
Wood bead: for nose, click here to see how I painted my wood beads.
Chunky yarn: I had some cream-white yarn on hand from Hobby Lobby
Medium birch discs: this is optional
Embellishments: I used three paper sunflowers I had on hand.

ASSEMBLING MY SPRING GNOME

I knew on my recent trip to Dollar Tree, I wanted to make Spring Gnome, in a sort of beehive style.

Dollar Tree had most of my supplies; styrofoam cone, rope, and even the cute bumble bee skirt I used for fabric I found by the register!

The remaining supplies, I had on hand.

LET’S GET STARTED

First, I had to be careful using hot glue on my styrofoam cone, I was worried it would melt.

So, I cut the fabric I had in approximately 12″ x 12″ “square”.

A very rough square.

Since it was wrinkled, I ironed it and then I wrapped it around the cone and glued it in place.

Once that was done, I measured how long I wanted my “chunky yarn beard” and cut about 12 strips.

They ended up being about 5″ long.

When I was done, I realized I probably added to many, I’ll know better next time.

Next time, I’ll have my bottom row of five pieces of yarn and then add three pieces on top to make a “fluffy” chunky yarn beard.

Once the yarn was glued in place, I grabbed my speckled painted wood bead for the nose and glued that in place.

Click here to see how I paint wood beads, with one color and then two colors to make a speckled effect.

For the final piece, I added one chunky yarn over the top of the nose as the eyebrows.

So in all, we’ll need nine pieces of chunky yarn for the beard and uni-brow.

MY SPRING GNOME STOCKING HAT

Now here comes the fun part.

I now grabbed the rope, started wrapping and gluing the rope in a circular fashion working my way up the cone.

Be careful not to burn your fingers as your gluing, craft sticks or tongue depressors helps but I always forget them!

Once I reached the top, I made sure to glue the ends down and then I grabbed my paper flowers and glued them randomly in place on the hat as an embellishment.

For the final impromptu piece, I decided to glue a medium birch disc to the bottom of my Spring Gnome as a stand.

Since I used a styrofoam cone, this was pretty lightweight and this helps add height and a stable base so it doesn’t tip over.

And that is it!

I can not wait to do this again and try the “chunky yarn beard” again, I loved how this turned out!